Your Questions Answered

At Beacon, we understand that being a victim of a crime is distressing. It also brings you into areas of the criminal justice system that you’ll probably have never needed to know about before. Here, we’ve answered the questions people ask us most often. If you have a question that we’ve not answered, call us on 03000 11 55 55 (option3) or e-mail us at info@hertfordshirebeacon.org.

They may ask you for more information to help them do this. This could involve visiting you at home or inviting you to the police station. If the crime happened on the street, they may just speak to you at the scene.

If you're injured, and have to go to hospital, the police may visit you there.

A uniformed officer will most likely be the first person you speak to from the police. If the offence is a sexual crime or one of a sensitive nature, you can ask to with speak to an officer of your own gender.

The police will ask you for a statement. This will help them build a picture of what happened.

Police officers receive special training in interviewing victims and witnesses. Sometimes though, it can take them some time to gather all the information they need. They understand that interviews can be distressing, so you can ask for a break at any time.

The police may need to speak to you more than once. This may be to check information and find more evidence, such as:

descriptions of people involved

descriptions or names of any witnesses

registration numbers of any vehicles. This includes vehicles that weren’t involved in the incident, as their drivers or occupants may have seen something

descriptions, identifying marks or serial numbers of any stolen property

It allows you to tell the court and, where applicable, the parole board, how the crime has affected you, or your family. If the defendant is found guilty, you can read your statement aloud in court or have it read out on your behalf.

Crimestoppers will ask questions about the crime you're calling about, but not about you.

For extra reassurance, you can dial 141 before calling 0800 555 111. This will withhold your phone number and make your call untraceable. Calls to 0800 numbers don't show up on a BT or cable phone bill.